Day #66 - Annecy, France

Annecy, France

Lake Annecy

Lake Annecy

Unbelievable sites

Taken while running a 12 miler

Wednesday, May 19th

I'm seeing a disturbing trend starting to occur regarding lodging. Prices are becoming more and more expensive, and availability is becoming more and more scarce. This hit home last night. I expected this to come - just not this early. When I got into Geneva, I found an internet cafe to book a place to stay (my standard protocol). This time, unfortunately, nothing available. Everything sold out. I'm told some sort of big event is going on - didn't get specifics on what that meant.

It was fairly early (5:30pm) - so I wasn't too alarmed. I would just go back to the train station and see about getting to another town. I looked on the internet and found a place about 50 miles south of Geneva - Annecy, France. I didn't book the hotel as I wasn't sure if I could get a train or not (mistake). When I got to the station, I found that my best option was via bus. A bus was leaving at 7:15pm to arrive in Annecy around 8:30pm. I had to get to this other station to catch the bus. I don't know if it was me having just been on 8 hours of train rides, but I just couldn't figure out the Geneva transportation system. It was confusing at best. I eventually found this girl who helped me get to the right place.

I got into Annecy and got a taxi. I didn't book any hotels - but I had written down a couple. I got to this first hotel and the lady says: "Sorry, we're all booked up. There's a 'big event' going on in Geneva and all of Annecy is full" I'm thinking: "What - how can that be - I just saw availabilities a couple hours ago on the internet". Things were booking quickly. I'm crushed. It's now 9pm, I'm on the outskirts of Annecy, France, the buses and trains are stopping for the night - I have no place to go.

Many things were going through my mind: "Can I walk up to somebody and ask if I can stay at their house", "Do I have enough clothes to sleep outside", "Do I have enough money to pay a taxi to take me to another town many miles away". None of these options seemed fantastic at the moment. The lady at the hotel said I could use their Wi-Fi. About 15 minutes later, she comes over and says that they just had a cancellation - I can have the room. Wow - fortunes turn on a dime on this trip.

Today I did almost nothing until mid-afternoon. I was wiped out due to all the travel from yesterday. Up at 4:38am, 8 hours on trains, 2 hours on buses, plus all the waiting in between - not to mention the added stress at the end of the day. I was in and out of consciousness up until 3pm. I got some running gear on and packed my daypack. I loaded up with 3 liters of water, 3 power bars, and 3 packs of Sharkies. I wasn't sure where I was going - but I was prepared one way or the other.

I ran back into town - a couple miles. Then I walked around and found some maps I needed for the next couple weeks. Then I came upon one of the coolest places I've been thus far on the trip - Lake Annecy. I knew coming into this trip that the Alps were going to be one of my favorite places. Mountains, hiking, lakes, trail running, skiing -- all good. This was a huge lake. I started around 1 side. I was running and walking. When I ran, it was at a snails pace. I just wanted to get some mileage in. The elevation of the town was 1,500 ft -- not much of anything - but it was a start. Check out the pictures I was taking as I ran around this lake - awesome!

I hadn't made it around 1 side and I'd already gone about 7 miles total (about 4 around lake and rest in town). I wanted to circle this thing - but I didn't want to go 15+ miles today. I decided to play it safe and turn around. I ended up doing about 12 miles on the day -- only running about half that distance. I felt really good.

I grabbed a pizza in town and called it a day. I'm going to try to get to Mont Blanc tomorrow if I can. Not sure what I'm going to do there yet. I can't believe how much I'm winging things. But - it would be nearly impossible to do it any other way.